Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Further update: Japan has checked in. Thank you, first donor from Japan!

Also Portugal, Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands yet again.

In the USA: California, and right here in central Virginia.

Update from Dymphna: Fundraising, The Final Day

That phrase has always intrigued me: “reduced circumstances”. It sounds British, but it could also be from the American South. Lord knows after Sherman created that swath of destruction everyone was living in “circumstances” much reduced from what they remembered. When I travel the back roads of the Carolinas or Georgia, I wonder if the South ever managed to entirely recover from Sherman’s depredations.

So here we are, living in reduced circumstances in Eden. The Baron came here first and it was he who named our house when he moved in. After living in the fast lane in Northern Virginia – there isn’t a slow lane in NoVa – this place seemed Edenic to him.

And it is. We had peaches and pears in abundance this year, without having to tend them at all. Also crab grass, but as the Baron likes to remind me, Eden is never perfection. This is Eden… afterwards.

Our reduced circumstances are the same ones facing millions of other Americans and, just as they are doing, we’ll weather them somehow. The only obstacle is Obama. Come to think of it, his program is beginning to resemble the strategy of General Sherman.

Today we wrap up our bleg. Things were slower, but donors continued to arrive, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart:

Upstate New YorkArizonaCalifornia (it’s now the “I told you so!” state for me)Arkansas, right where it meets TenneseeFlorida again – thanks y’all

The Netherlands Hungary – our first donation from there!UK – one final time.

Gratias plena to all of you who showed up during the past week. Your generosity will help us to make it through the end of 2009.

We will muddle on through and let you all know if our circumstances fatten up any. In fact, y’all will be the first to know!

And now this post can finally mosey on down the page with all the rest…

In our case, enumerated among them would be our contributors. Y’all have really been generous to Gates of Vienna during this fund drive.

Anyone who didn’t receive a response for your gift let me know. We’ve had a few bounces, one from San Francisco and one that looks like it may be from France. The intent of that latter email isn’t immediately obvious.

Today, the Canadians came by again…and again. For the first time since I remember, the Canadians have been more numerous than the Texans.

There were some cowboys, of course. I hope the generosity they display is an indication of good times to come in the Lone Star state.

Norway was represented today. The Baron tells me this donor is further north than usual. I wonder if they’ve had their first frost yet (I never looked forward to a killing frost before but we’ve been infested with crab grass and that stuff is hard on my eyes). I do hope the Norwegians come in honor of Fjordman. There’s no one else like him.

More Virginia donors, too, and a few from Illinois. The former are particularly welcome since it’s like a letter from home. The latter reassure me that not all is lost in Obama country.

California continues to prove me wrong. My original thought, starting out, was that we wouldn’t hear much from them. Whowee, was I ever wrong! Thanks, all of y’all for being so generous in the face of my doubts.

Florida is California’s rival, and some crackers hit the tip cup today, thankyouverymuch. It’s nice to hear from people in the Panhandle (that’s west Florida, though both parts of my home state look like panhandles). For those who’ve never been there, out a ways past the state capitol starts what is known as the “Redneck Riviera”.

Some “show me” donors from Missouri gave to our fundraiser (The “show me” part is a reference to Missourians who don’t take your word for it: they want to see the evidence. In today’s political climate, that sure is a good idea).

And hello, Arkansas. You know who you are.

Last but not least, thanks to the citizens of Oz who arrived today, all looking a bit dusty. Given the dust storms and the aftermath, it was especially encouraging to hear from y’all.

Update from Dymphna: Fundraising, Day Five

Heavens, it certainly doesn’t seem like five days… except perhaps when I consult my gluteus maximus.

Since traffic is slower on weekends, I thought for sure the donations would be also. However, that turned out not to be the case. Again, our donors showed up from nearly all over. I say “nearly” because it’s a rare day when the Texans don’t come by. No doubt some were at church, some were gardening, and others were sleeping off the events of Saturday night?

Here’s our travel log for today:

Illinois, at least three times. Obama’s home state made a fine showing. One thank you note bounced, so if anyone from Illinois didn’t get a response, please let me know.

Michigan, more than once, but I may be leaving someone out. We’ve never heard from anyone in the Upper Peninsula; somehow I can’t picture them being much interested in lower Michigan, much less matters European. In fact, the U.P. has been muttering about secession for years. It sure is another world by the waters of Gitchigumi. For obvious reasons, when the Finns came to America, they congregated there.

Californians are still hitting the tip cup, so I’ll have to eat my words about California being true-blue. They’re obviously not monolithic. Yesterday, one donor said their son had been a liberal in his freshman year at Berkeley but grew increasingly conservative as he moved through school. That gives us hope. Maybe there will be more movement to the right as the large unionized state bureaucracy starts to fissure.

The New Yorkers have arrived in greater abundance, too.

For our European readers, these three states - Michigan, California, and New York - are being slammed with high taxes and a net loss of residents as people head for the door. Conditions are dire in all of them, so it’s cheering when they come by.

We heard from Maine for the first time and from tah dah! Washington, D.C. Both are such Democrat strongholds that one never expects to see them at the Gates. Things are kicking up in Maine, though: the hippies are ageing out and a newer, younger group will be in charge…eventually.

Several Virginians put in appearances, too, with (as they say around here) right nice donations. Thanks, y’all.

And a previous donor from North Carolina returned with money and praises. Come to think of it, we’ve had a number of previous donors. Cool. And even cooler are the nice things they say.

From Europe, we had Brits in abundance. You’d never know there was a downturn in the economy to see the numbers of donors from the UK.

Ireland and Australia were here, too. However, like the Texans, the Canadians were doing other things with this lovely Sunday.- - - - - - - - -Perhaps both will return tomorrow, as offices open up again for the things we do in cubicles where the boss can’t see us. Hmm…I wonder if Gates of Vienna is blocked in government offices yet? I dearly hope not, since government workers are beginning to become the largest segment of the still-employed.

We shall continue, faithful readers, in our genteel squalor reminiscent of the days after the Late Unpleasantness. As long as the electric grid remains intact, however, we won’t have to go back but part way.

Update from the Baron: Fundraising, Day Four

Well, our flatiron won’t get us to a hotel on Boardwalk anytime soon, but, thanks to our readers’ generosity, we get to keep our house here on Mediterranean Avenue.

As a matter of interest — how long has it been since first class U.S. postage was actually 32¢? It seems very recent…

Today’s roll call includes Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Massachusetts, and at least two from Illinois.

From the Near Abroad, Canada checked in several times, including British Columbia.

Then there was Dublin — the real one, in Eire.

More from France, and a lot from the UK — Dymphna (who is keeping track for me) says the British were in the lead today.

Thank you all for opening your hearts and your wallets for us. May you draw a Get Out of Jail Free card!

Friday’s Update from Dymphna: Day Three of the Bleg

Top of the Hole, eh what??

I’ve been reading a bit of post-Second World War P.G. Wodehouse. This period of his writing is still amusing, but it’s bittersweet, too, as Wodehouse depicts England’s upper class coming to terms with the new socialism and ruination by taxes. Before the war, Bertie Wooster was timeless and Edwardian. But afterwards… reality caught up with Mr. Wodehouse as the upper class began to be obliterated.

In the first novella, Bertie is off-stage in a school that teaches gentlemen to darn their own socks and otherwise learn living skills. Thus, Jeeves is on loan to another feckless soul, Lord Towcester (pronounced “Toaster”).

It is the usual Wodehouse pretzel of a plot, but it resonates nicely with our situation. Fortunately, we are not being forced to sell the crumbling family manse to a rich American. Heh. Our manse may crumble, but that is its permanent state. This condition is not merely existential, as would be the case with an ancient castle complete with chapel and a damp river running too nearby. No, our castle suffers from its humble antecedents and thus presents with a kind of congenital dishabille. The old place was born skewed and out of kilter. Still, it must have been loved from its very beginnings. You can tell.

To the rescue today rode a veritable posse of donors, spread across the globe. Of course there were the Swedes, a Norwegian, some Danes, and Brit or two, plus the Netherlands and someone from the real Vienna. That’s quite a plus.

Canadians popped up and for heaven’s sake, the Californians were on hand in abundance this time. An old friend of GoV, from Washington state was among the repeats. So there, I was wrong about the left coast, hmm? One donor rightly took me to task for that generalization.

A Michigander who’d last given in 2006 reappeared for another go and someone from Mizzippi, who’d given in the previous quarter tipped the cup again. Thanks!

A lone New Englander from New Hampshire tipped the cup. And, no, it wasn’t Mark Steyn. Where is he, by the way?

My big surprise was a donation from someone in my old hometown, Jacksonville, Florida. The place has grown from the small southern city it once was it was into a massive sprawl. Our donor lives in an area that was scrub palmetto and sandburs when I was growing up. Still, it was home for many years and I was inordinately pleased to receive Jax’s gift.

One of the Canadians said:

I just wanted to mention that I am forever stumbling upon references to Gates of Vienna on other blogs. You have an influence that goes far beyond the number of direct visitors to your site. It’s simply one more reason why it is so important to donate to your site — you are an Anti-Islamic force multiplier!

Thanks for another quarter of thought-provoking reading and I hope the worst is soon over for you and the Baron.

From your keyboard to G-d’s eyes, my friend.

Update from the Baron: Fundraising, End of Day Two

Our readers have once again earned their reputation for open-handed generosity. You all made the tip cup plink almost continuously all day long, and kept Dymphna so busy writing her thank-you notes that she wore her fingers out.

In the Far Abroad, we heard from Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, and the UK.

In the USA, Texas was front and center once again. We also heard from California, Colorado, Illinois, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, and the Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy, more commonly known as “Northern Virginia”.

There were probably some other places represented in these gifts that I have forgotten. If so, y’all can reprimand me in the comments.

The way this is going, it looks like we will probably be able to skate by for a bit longer. We’re grateful to each and every person who has contributed so far.

Update from Dymphna: Fundraising, End of Day One

The best part of our fund-raising ventures is finding donations from so many different places. Thus far, we have Denmark, the UK, and Australia, all of them from several locations in each country.

On the North American continent, from the vast reaches of Canada we received donations across its breadth (not reaching as far as Vancouver this time, but I’ll have you know we’ve heard from that bastion of the left on several occasions in the past).

The U.S. is always led by Texans, though the very first donation this time around was from New Mexico. Las Cruces looks beautiful, doesn’t it?

Besides the Texans and the Texans, we have donors in the Midwest, the South, and the Upper Plains. No one has checked in from the Northwest, but one brave soul from New England came by with his donation.

Americans know that our coastlines on both sides are bastions of blue, so when someone shows up from either coast, it’s encouraging. I’ll always cherish the donation we received from Berkeley one year. Amazing. The poor donor had absolutely no one to talk to so he had to stay underground when it came to political opinions.

What ever happened to America the Free? I think it was mugged by ACORN and George Soros.

By the way, I’ll be answering those who’ve given me advice about treatments for narcolepsy and fibromyalgia, but not till after the fund-raising is over. If any of your suggestions work even a little, that will be the best gift of all!

22 September

Yes, it’s that time again…

As long as our own personal economic crisis persists, we’ll continue to throw a fundraiser roughly once a quarter. The generosity of our readers is what keeps Dymphna and me afloat, and for that we are deeply grateful.

The response to our “Hard Times” fundraiser back in June was heartening. Some readers signed up for the monthly subscription option, which is an expression of trust: a subscriber likes what he’s reading and is confident that there will be more where that came from.

And so there will be more, much more, given our dedicated corps of tipsters, translators, and contributors. These volunteers do a top-notch job of providing relevant in-depth content for our site. We are pleased to be the American portal for Europe’s crises.

Times are tough for a lot of people right now, and the employment situation here in the USA is likely to get worse before it gets better. Have you heard about our jobless recovery, especially for white men?

Our own circumstances are made more difficult by Dymphna’s medical condition, which limits my choices of what jobs I could possibly take — even if such jobs were available.

Dymphna is mostly unable to get out of the house now, and when she does travel, I have to be her chauffeur — a job she calls “Driving Miss Dymphna”.

The problem with Fibromyalgia is that a person can “look” so well, and yet be unable to function. It has been described as a “soft-tissue” rheumatism. FM can strike at any age, though it affects more women than men. Dymphna knows a young basketball coach who was diagnosed with this condition, and was forced to retire with a disability. Some doctors have decided that Dymphna has narcolepsy, too, but the treatments for it make other conditions worse. The medication is frightfully expensive, so she hoards it for “have-tos”, e.g. the doctor, the dentist, etc. Ironically, the remedies she is given seem to require more remedies for their side-effects.

When you ask Dymphna what the worst thing is about this disorder (besides the pain), she says that, in the long run, it narrows a person’s ability to function, and she has to accept that she is no longer dependable.

So she saves up her energy for special occasions — trying to visit her children and grandchildren, attending two local tea parties, paying a visit to our congressman’s office to beard the beast in his lair — but most of the time she has to stay at home. Outside exertions, even trips to the doctor, are energy-consuming. Dymphna is not bedridden, but things aren’t easy, which means that a lot of the routine chores (including such efforts at housekeeping as I can manage) fall to me.

All of the above makes it problematic to seek work that would require me to be away from home for any significant length of time. Since we live in the middle of nowhere — heck, we have to drive fifteen or twenty miles just to get to nowhere — that limits me to part-time work, telecommuting, or working very close to home. Moving closer to town is not affordable. We chose where we live because it was inexpensive.

With the modest amount of piecework I’ve managed to find over the last three months, plus the generosity of our readers (and our savings), we can eke out a subsistence if we’re very careful. Our circumstances are not a bad way to live. We have no debt, our house is paid for, and I drive a clunker (which they’ll have to pry out of my cold dead hands). I consider myself fortunate to have the options that I do.

Our station in life has fallen to a more modest level, but we’ve kept the wolf from the door — so far.

Once again, I’d like to thank everybody who has helped us.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The tip cup is on our sidebar to the left, as is a subscription button which opens up to a $10-per-month plan via Paypal. Each of these options leads to a “Natural Intelligence of Central Virginia” screen, which is the name we use for our business account.

You should be able to find help reading Dr Hulda Clark's books. Check "the cure for all diseases". See testimonials on drclark.net. As for narcolepsy, a friend of mine recovered easily by taking tyrosine.

I have a bad conscience for not participating but I have only a small pension to live on while I at the same time have no clue how to pay for new glasses which I need and I also need at least one pair of new jeans too and it's all such a mess. I hope it goes well for Dymphna and maybe I could contribute at a later time when I have solved my own problems. While our enemies has almost unlimited resources at their disposal it is certainly not fair that we have to fight against all odds. But then again St George slayed the mighty dragon and David killed Goliath so let's hope for the best.

The worst thing about being poor is how it limits our choices. The second worst thing is that we don't have the luxury of giving to others. That really puts a crimp in the soul.

In the US, we have a national volunteer group that provides glasses for those who can't afford them. Do you have anything like that? If not, do you have religious charities? We have lots of them here, and they don't care if you're a member or not. I used to ask them for help when I worked at a shelter for women. They were always willing.

As far as jeans go, are there second hand shops in your area? I buy much of my clothing at Good Will or Salvation Army. They have great bargains on used clothing and the money goes to a good cause.

In fact, until the Baron got a "real" job back in the '90s (instead of being a landscape artist), that's where I bought all our clothes. The Baron in particular liked it because the clothing was very soft -- having been already washed a number of times! And the future Baron, because that's all he'd ever known, was annoyed by the stiffness of new clothing.

If these two options aren't available where you live, do email us and let us know.

When I'm in a situation like that, I make wishes. Like, a dozen years ago, I made a really favorable house deal, and I was worried sick that the other party would back out. Irrational worry, perhaps, but I took half an hour of rest, wishing the best for everyone I could think of. Worry gone, I proceeded into whatever I was doing.

Now, I don't believe much in magic. But I do believe in being responsible and that intention matters. Those wishes may not have had immediate effect - but they just might have influenced my choices positively later, or that I have done something useful without really noticing.

I agree with your sentiments here. I'm enough of a Jungian to believe that the Cosmos is a pulsing organism (of some sort). That's why I think every donation we get is returned to the giver in greater abundance...but in ways the giver may not ever connect with his original gift.

It's a good idea to write down one's wishes in great, glorious detail and to re-visit them on occasion to change details as our circumstances change.

Not long ago I came across a very long, detailed "wish list" I'd drawn up about our house. In my wishing, I'd gone over each room and described what I wanted to achieve with it. I tried to visualize the end result.

It was quite interesting to read that list years later and see that it had been realized beyond anything I could have imagined for myself.

Of course, you'd have had to see our house back then to know I was more or less starting from scratch with those ideas! For example, back then we didn't have central heating and such a notion was so far beyond my thinking that it never even made it to the wish list.

Thus, Robin S., make a list with at least TWO pairs of jeans on it and describe exactly how they should look. For your glasses, put down a reading pair, a walking-around pair, and some nice prescription sunglasses while you're at it.

IOW, WISH BIG! And we shall do so along with you.

As for those of you who think such ideas are nonsense, I would respond that you live on the surface of life, chained to a scientistic world view. One only has to live long enough to see the synchroncity. Oh...and you have to have your eyes wide open or it will sneak right past you.

I knew you were good people. The Baron knows his Vance, and Dymphna knows her Jung. Absolutely top form! I refrained from contributing during this round because I had 'plunked in' a little something not too long ago. By the next round, however, I'll have recovered from having had to replace my broken computer.

I know you'll keep the wolf from the door and the fanatics from the gates.

But that is only because the Arab Muslim nations are not actually civilizations in the modern sense, they are post-colonized tribal clumpings with bits and pieces of borrowed governmental structures and technology that never quite work right. And underneath them is something far darker and more primitive, a miserably brutal and ruthless Levantine existence defined not by moral laws, but by tribal ones. And underneath them all are the pigs. Kill the pigs, and the system collapses.

The link DP111 gives above is to a very insightful piece that compares useful idiots in the West to the pigs that were the garbage system of Cairo until they were killed for fear of swine flu.

The Western pigs keep swallowing the combustible dregs that Muslim countries send them and will meet the same fate as the Cairo pigs one day. Unfortunately, they are putting all our bacon on the line.

"the homelands of Islam have been calculatedly dumping the garbage they don't want on foreign shores.

"Don't fight a civil war, fight a global war", has been the anthem of the ruling families of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and numerous other Arab Muslim dictatorships, who extend one crooked hand to the West, and another to Islamic terrorists; dumping their exploding garbage in foreign laps".

From the perspective of the "moderate Muslims" that we keep hearing so much about, Bin Laden pushed the limit, upsetting the cycle and bringing war into their own backyard. The result overturned the system and broke the cycle. Too much too soon, was the watchword there. The "moderate Muslims" had no objections to thousands of murdered Americans and other foreigners. What they had an objection to was exceeding the allowable tolerances of Americans and other foreigners for terrorism.

Yet another thorough indictment of "moderate" Muslims. We should all be very glad about Islam's congenital case of overreach. Between larding their highest military ranks with ignorant blue-bloods and being so religiously obsessed that indoctrination takes precedence over genuine education, Islam cannot manufacture weapons or field them in any effective manner.

This pervasive weakness needs to be exploited. As noted earlier in the article:

But that is only because the Arab Muslim nations are not actually civilizations in the modern sense, they are post-colonized tribal clumpings with bits and pieces of borrowed governmental structures and technology that never quite work right. And underneath them is something far darker and more primitive, a miserably brutal and ruthless Levantine existence defined not by moral laws, but by tribal ones. And underneath them all are the pigs. Kill the pigs, and the system collapses. [emphasis added]

It's long past tea to begin killing the greedy Islamic swine at the top who turn a blind eye to terrorism while vacuuming up all wealth. They intentionally cripple any prosperity that might cause average Muslims to be sufficiently contented with life so that murdering others might not be quite as attractive.

According to Thomas Sowell, much of the black dialect in this country can be traced back to the north of England and also to the Scots and Irish who settled the American South.

I would agree, and would add that much of the rural accent up and down the seaboard has its roots in the English of the 17th and 18th century. You'd probably have to be a native to hear the differences, but to us they're quite apparent. The Texan drawl of Lyndon Johnson is quite different from the

The title essay, "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" demonstrates that so much of the urban "black" culture is really not African in origin, but comes from the now extinct culture of northern Britain. The folks who brought their culture with them from Scotland and environs tended to settle in the South...

IIRC, Sowell was really talking about language, but it's been a while since I read the book. Some cultural aspects were imposed.

And in oral histories of former slaves still alive in the 30s (these were done by WPA workers hired during the Depression), you can hear a less slovenly version of what Sowell means. I heard a former slave from Charlottesville describing how even city blacks could not walk around town without a slip of paper showing their master's permission. His voice was old, but his words were more obviously telling of his linguistic origins.

On Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, an Elizabethean English accent is dying out. Fortunately it has been preserved thru recordings. Ocracoke can only be reached by ferry so it is slower to change.

BTW, Ocracoke has a well-tended small cemetery for British sailors whose ship, the HMT Bedfordshire, was sunk off the coast. Four bodies were recovered and buried on Ocracoke. A Bitish flag flies there at all times and it is considered "a piece of England" as long as the cemetery remains. Given the ravages of Atlantic hurricanes, who knows when that will end?

Until it goes the way of all flesh and memory, there is a ceremony every year in the first two weeks of May, with British and American military doing the honors.

The link above, to the cemetery, has this to say:

The land is essentially British territory. It has been given in honor the men buried there so that they can rest in "home" soil. A plaque at the Ocracoke cemetery contains part of the poem by British poet Rupert Brooke:

If I should die think only this of methat there's some corner of a foreign fieldthat is forever England

And so it is.

Ocracoke is the Baron's favorite place. He's visited that cemetery many, many times. But I never knew there was an annual ceremony. It takes place about two or three weeks before the tourists begin to arrive.

Have you ever read The Investigative Project on Terrorism? http://www.investigativeproject.org/

It was started by terrorism expert Steve Emerson.

For those that don't know, which is probably everyone but B & D, I live in Northwest Arkansas very close to the border with Missouri.

Well, I went to the Walmart in Jane, MO on Sunday to buy groceries and a bottle of wine, I live in a dry county in AR, and while there saw five, FIVE, Somali Muslim women dressed head to toe in hijabs. All they lacked were face coverings. Why is this so unusual? Because Jane, MO has a population less than 5,000 persons and there is close to nothing there. It's about as rural as rural can get. So, why were these women there? Were they part of a Catholic Charities settlement of Somalis? I don't know but I intend to find out. Refugee Resettlement Watch is a great site for following our disastrous refugee policy.This past week was Bikes, Blues, and Barbecue in Fayetteville, AR, which is about 30 miles south of Jane and there were about 100,000 bikers in town. I saw them coming and going up and down Interstate 540 and Highway 71 for several days. Most of the bikers fit the stereotype of the bedraggled Harley rider. Although rough sort of characters they seem to me to be uniquely American. Now try to contrast them with the Somali women I saw and imagine them being called "Americans". When I imagine "American" nothing close to them comes to mind. It made me angry and sad at the same time.

On a happy note my family and I went to Silver Dollar City for my youngest daughter's 4th birthday.